Indicating device



y 1936. T.-WIRTH INDICATING DEVICE Filed Feb. 7, 1953 mm; mm 0707/ gu- .2. 74

Registered May 12, 1936 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE INDICATING DEVICE Thomas Wirth, Munich, Germany Application February 7, 1933, Serial No. 655,639 In Germany February17, 1932 1 Claim. (01. 35-40) This invention relates to an apparatus by ferent relative positions of the underlying and means of which it is made easy and simple to overlying members, serves to emphasize or mark find and single out any desired point, position, or different holes in the overlying member in the a series of dots, lines or even figures in a graphidifferent relative positions of the underlying cal representation consisting of a multitude of member. such dots, lines or figures or a combination of Theinvention will be more clearly understood them, which because of such mass of lines and w th refere ce to the a c mp y drawing figures is in itself indistinct and confusing. The wherein like references denote like or similar necessity very frequently arises for selecting in a p t and Similar references modified y different graphical representation consisting of a multi- Suffixes indicate simi ar but m d fi d Pa s- 10 tude of such signs, one or several or a series of In the, drawing, which is by way of example them, which are interdependent or stand in some only relation to each other as regards situation/or se- Figure 1 isla plan of the invention employing quence or in point of time. a sheath and slide;

The primary object of th present e ti Figure 2 is a longitudinal sectional elevation of 5 is the provision of an indicating device made up Figureiyrli of two'members capable of relative movement, Figure s a u th p a of F ure 1; with one of su h m b underlying th the Figure 4 is a transverse sectional elevation of the surface of the superimposed member graphi- Fi and ally representing. th ti d t for h h th Figure 5 is a longitudinal sectional elevation of 20 device is designed and formed with data-indicat- 'e 1 With the device in closed p s 0 ing openings at predetermined points. The un- A preferred form f carrying Out this invenderlying device is provided t dotqike marktionis shown in the drawing. In this form a movings of a size to cooperate, in selected positions of able part auxiliary m er Cl is inserted bethe underlying member, with and render visible, tween Ve Y stationary D ma mem- 5 preferably through the coloring of the dots, the be? Al Carrying a p and a back DI connected opening or openings in the superimposed memto part The allXiliary member is g d to bers with which the dot or dots on the underlying Slide between tWO des E which form the conmember cooperate at the particular position of ne between Darts Al and DI of the main the underlying member Both members are member. Upon the map representation of the 30 formed so that selectively successive positions main member Al the air travel utes of central of t underlying member with respect to the Europe are shown and the individual places with overlying member may be determined by the 00- their landing ports marked by m a s Of ciroperating indications n said overlying and cular holes. Upon the front side of the auxiliary underlying members so that when the under1y member Cl the routes of all air ports which are 35 7 m member is in one indicatingv position, the in flying connection with Munich as a center, are colored or otherwise emphasized dots thereon will Shown by means of dots corresponding as egards render visible and emphasize certain openings in their positions with the respective landing places the overlying member, all other dots on the on the P'T To find easily any desired air route,

40 underlying member being concealed, so that the the we member Cl carries a list Of all the 40 holes in the overlying member which are not emplaces m alphabetical (191' in a ular c01- phasized in the particular position of the underumnadlacent the top edge as S OWn, and in main lyingmember by the dots thereon will not be emmember Al there 15 a rectangular Opening OI phasized or marked in any way, so that tte ti through which one section of this column may be is directed immediately to the openings in the d at a time. 45

overlying member which are emphasized by the T0 make t asy for reading purposes, the form dots of the underlying member to thus give the that has been given to this rectangular opening desired information in thethen particular posiis an oblique parallelogram, and the names in tion of the underlying member. Furthermore, h l mn r W t n liqu ly o correspond.

certain of the dots of the underlying member and s pen g may, however, be round, Oval or any certain'of the holes of the overlying member are other convenient shape. If now the auxiliary in alignment in the direction of relative movemember Cl is so moved that the name desired ment between the members, so that at least one registers exactly with the opening OI in the map is dot on the n ly n m er may, in the difsheet of the main member Al, then the holes and 40 a hotels in the respective air-ports as an advervisible by or is not a divisions or parallelograms in the column on the edge of the auxiliary V inscribed. Any'adjustment may be fixed conven-" the cover sheet of the main member Al upon the map sheet, one condition is that all the holes must be a distance apart which is not dimultiple of the number of auxiliary member Cl. As, however, it is possible tomake the auxiliary member CI of any length desired, any number of routes can be shown.

Tln'ough the back sheet DI may appear simultaneously with the appearance of the route upon the map, indications asto the times of departure and arrival, the duration, the fares, which information isall arranged in a suitably distinct manner upon the auxiliary member CI and appears through a slot SI in the back sheet DI. Another method of showing simultaneously with the route upon the map sheet an explanatory text, is shown in Figure 1.

The back sheet DI is extended beyond the map sheet of the main member Al and carries on its front portion a number of parallel strips of a width corresponding to the number of divisions upon the auxiliary member Cl. If now the auxiliary member Cl a strip is uncovered'by the right edge of the auxiliary member Cl,

member Cl bearing a text with indications referring to the registration place appearing in the opening OI. On these strips,'for instance, can; be shown the names of tisement, or else other indications with regard to the journey, prices, distances and so forth. The extended portion of part DI beyond the map sheet of the main member AI has another advantage. This portion of it can conveniently be folded, over the map sheet and over the auxiliary member C I as shown in Figure 5,and then serves as'a protection cover and as a meansof preventing the auxiliary member Cl from falling out'or being damaged. Furthermore, upon this protection cover advertisements or addresses can be iently in position in a simple manner by means of a clamp.

7 It is, of course, understoodthat the dots on theauxiliary member must be so arranged that in any one selected position of the auxiliary member relativeto the main member, all dots on the auxiliary member except those utilized in the particular position of the auxiliary member to emphasize holes in the main member, as previously described, are eiiectively concealed bythe cover sheet of the main member In thisparticular,

" as will be clear from Figure 1, it is possible to reduce the number of dots on the auxiliary mem ber to a number less than that of the holes in the main member by utilizing at least one or more of the dots on the auxiliary member for cooperation with different holes in the-main member in different positions of the auxiliary member relative to the main member. Thus, with the holes in the main member, or more particularly certain ofthem,;arranged in alignment in the direction of movement of the auxiliary member, a particuis moved from right to left, then the. strip adjacent the right tions to various places.

lar dot on the auxiliary member can be utilized to cooperate with and emphasize each of said aligned holes in the main member in different po- 7 sitions of the auxiliary member. a

The above serves to showthis invention for the purposes of emphasizing points or routes upon a cartographic representation, where it was desired mainly to show the positions of certain definite objects. 7

A device in accordance with this invention has the important advantage that in a very simple manner a very clear graphic representation can be given of any portion. As applied to the example of a map or a plan, for instance, of a town or a landscape, the finding of certain important points or routes is thermore, a very large number of points or routes may be painted upon the same map without in any way creating confusion, or without decreasing the facility of finding any desired route. In fact, it is possible to put. such mass of information or details upona map of a small scale as would be put upon a map of a very large scale, because even the smallest details and mass of them, which are generally left out of a small scale map for the sake of clearness, may be put upon a small scalemap used in'this way, because it does not impair its clearness. This device, therefore, greatly facilitates the use of cartographic representations, and this is important, because hitherto ithas been necessary ,for the sake of. clearness ,to make maps in sections. The fact that simultaneously with the showing up of dots; or series of dots, or lines, upon the graphic representation, a textual explanatory table can also be shown, is a further great advantage of this invention. Such data, for instance, as distances along the routes which hitherto had to be either inscribed upon the map on that route, thereby greatly affecting the clearness of the map, or else had to be arranged insome column at the side of the map so that it'had' to be searched out very much simplified. Fur- V afterwards, can by this present means be shown ina clear and simple and direct manner together with the road on the map.

Apart from the economy of time and the great convenience in the handling, a very important advantage of this device is that errors in co-ordinating the clearness of the routes and the information referring thereto, are virtually eliminated. This latter advantage is particularly great in con-' nection with statistical tables and figures.

One form of utilizing this device or invention may be in showing up upon the plan of a town the places of interest, hotels, restaurants and places of amusement, tram lines, bus lines, and showing excursion routes, skiing routes, pointing'out particularly the most advantageous routes; inns, etc. Further, this device may be used for railway, omnibus, shipping and air transport routes to show the routes, distances, prices, time-tables,

etc., for the respective routes. It maybe used for showing automobile routes and the best connec- An excellent use of the device according to this invention is for instructional purposes, geographical lessons, lessons in history, mathematicsand physics in which particularly important points, routes, curves, etc., may be emphasized. In many other spheres of activity where graphic or. graphic statistical ,rep-

resentations are used, as for instance inengineermg, for showing particular curves, for showing oiling charts, in architecture, in medicine,

invention may be used with advantage. In the same way similar devices may be used for sporting events and other events arranged to improve or to increase traffic.

What I claim is:

An indicating device including a main member of rectangular envelope form, the outer surface of one face graphically representing the entire data for which the device is designed and formed with data-indicating openings at predetermined points of such data, and an auxiliary member wholly free of connection with the main member and of a size and shape to slide freely in and lengthwise the main member in guided relation thereto, the auxiliary member being provided with dot-like markings serving, when visible through one or more of the openings in the main member, to visibly emphasize such particular opening or openings, the auxiliary member being further provided on a line adjacent one edge thereof with a successive series of respectively distinguished indicators, the main member being formed with an opening through which any selected indicator may be made visible to indicate a predetermined relation between the dot-like markings on the auxiliary member and the openings in the main member, certain of the openings in the main member being in longitudinal alignment in the direction of movement of the auxiliary member to thereby permit a dot-like marking of the auxiliary member to emphasize each of the aligned openings of the main member in different relative positions of the auxiliary member and to the exclusion of other openings of the main member in the same longitudinal alignment, the dot-like markings on the auxiliary member being so relatively disposed that in any one position of the auxiliary member relative to the main member, all dot-like markings of the auxiliary member other than those utilized to emphasize particularly openings in the main member are concealed by the main member.

THOMAS WIRTH. 

